1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to video printing, and more particularly, to printing video images on a printable medium.
2. State of the Art
Video printers for producing photographic-like images from a video input are known. These devices produce high resolution images on a medium such as thermal paper.
For example, a video printer is described in a brochure entitled, "Color Video Printer UP-5100/UP-5150" available from Sony Corp. A brochure entitled, "Near Photographic Quality Color Prints From A Variety of Video Sources" describes a Color Video Printer UP-3000 also available from Sony Corp. The video printers as described in these brochures are directed to providing high quality prints of video images on photographic-like paper. A brochure entitled, "CP-110U Color Video Printer," and a brochure entitled, "CP-210U Large Format Color Video Printer," both available from Mitsubishi, describe similar devices for producing high resolution prints of video images on photographic-like paper.
Virtually all video printers, including those described above, are integrated and dedicated devices based on dye-sublimation or thermal transfer print mechanisms. These video printers inherently define (and limit) the physical attributes of the printed media, including size of the media, size and number of images per page, and amount and legibility of textual annotations. Furthermore, conventional video printers have traditionally printed a single image per piece of media, although more recent video printers can print multiple images (same or different) on one piece of media.
Despite their apparent appeal, conventional video printers have only realized limited commercial use. This is because conventional video printers reflect the trend to focus on producing high resolution prints of near photographic quality without regard to commercial practicality. Accordingly, conventional video printers suffer significant drawbacks which are believed to have resulted in their commercial impracticality. Some of these drawbacks are as follows:
(1) the photographic-like paper required by conventional video printers (e.g., thermal paper) is awkward and difficult to handle (e.g., curling up after being printed); PA1 (2) the photographic paper required by conventional video printers is costly, rendering the printing of more than a few photographic images prohibitively expensive; and PA1 (3) because special photographic-like paper is used by conventional video printers, they must be designed as integral units which include an expensive high resolution printing device. PA1 (1) conventional video printers can not accurately capture a given video frame, rather, activation of a print button on the video printer results in a capture and print of whatever frame happens to be in a frame buffer at a given time; thus, numerous costly prints must typically be obtained before a desired frame is captured; and PA1 (2) conventional video printers lack flexibility in modifying (e.g., enhancing) the video image; a captured frame of video is merely printed in its captured form.
In addition to being expensive to purchase and expensive to use, conventional video printers also suffer operational drawbacks which may have contributed to their impracticality. Some of these additional drawbacks are as follows: